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“Actually in your backpack?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

He pauses.

I stare at him.

“It might be on my desk.”

“Miles.”

“I’m checking.”

He bolts toward the den before I can remind him about the running rule.

Hannah looks at me. “You’ve created two very different people.”

“I’ve noticed.”

A minute later they are both back, properly equipped this time. Wells hugs me first, quick but firm, before adjusting the strap of his backpack over one shoulder.

“Love you,” he says.

“I love you too.”

Miles follows by throwing both arms around me hard enough to rock me back half a step.

“Love you more,” he says.

“That isn’t a competition.”

“It is to me.”

I laugh and kiss his temple. “Go to school.”

Hannah opens the front door and looks back at me.

“I’ll text you after drop-off.”

“Thank you.”

The boys spill onto the front steps with Hannah behind them, Wells already asking her something about whether chess openings can be mathematically ranked while Miles interrupts to explain why his robot will eventually need wheels capable of handling grass.

I stand in the doorway and watch them head down the walk. For a few minutes, the house behind me is completely quiet. Then my phone vibrates again. I look at the screen, see Naomi’s name and reach for my coffee. The quiet was nice while it lasted.

By the time I reach the office, the morning has already accelerated into the kind of day that makes coffee feel less like a preference and more like infrastructure.

My first call is waiting before I have my coat off. A longtime collector in Pacific Heights is considering the acquisition of a postwar work that has been offered privately, and by the time I sit down at my desk, I have the condition report open on one screen and the provenance file on the other.

“I’m not worried about the artist,” the client says through the speaker.

“I’m worried about the history.”

“You should be,” I reply. “The work itself is strong, but the ownership record between 1974 and 1982 is thinner than I’d like.”

“So you’re telling me not to buy it?”